Wilson Barn | |
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| Location | NE corner of Middlebelt and W. Chicago Rds., Livonia, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°21′53″N 83°19′55″W / 42.36472°N 83.33194°W / 42.36472; -83.33194 |
| Area | 4.8 acres (1.9 ha) |
| Built | 1888 |
| Architect | John H. Paterson |
| Architectural style | Bank Barn |
| NRHP reference No. | 73000962[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | December 12, 1973 |
| Designated MSHS | November 15, 1973[2] |
The Wilson Barn (also known as the Ira Wilson Dairy Barn) is a barn located at the northeast corner of Middlebelt and W. Chicago Roads in Livonia, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1973.[1][2] This was the beginning of the Ira Wilson & Sons Dairy Company, a now defunct company (which partnered for a time with Kroger and was ultimately acquired by Melody Farms in 1980). There were several large iconic cow's head sculptures,[3] which were fixtures in the Detroit metropolitan area.[4][5][6][7][8][9]
Ira Wilson was born in 1867, and began his career in dairy farming at an early age, working on the farm owned by his family since 1847.[2] He built a barn on this site in 1888; in 1919 the barn burned and he built the present structure on the foundations of the earlier barn.[2] Wilson eventually established a million-dollar dairy, creamery, and trucking business, the Ira Wilson & Sons Dairy,[2][10] and served for two terms as Wayne County sheriff. Wilson died in 1944, and the lower level of the barn was converted for use as a horse stable in the same year.[2]
As of 2011, the Wilson Barn is managed by "The Friends of the Barn," a volunteer group.[11]
The barn is a post-and-beam structure faced with wood siding, resting on a stone foundation and having a gambrel roof.[2] A silo made of dark brown, glazed tile is attached to the barn.[2]
The friends of the Wilson Barn host many events at the barn including a farmers market every saturday from the first Saturday in June until October, pumpkinfest, a twice monthly community board game night, an annual chess tournament, and other various events including 2 car shows.[citation needed]
The cow head had its fifteen minutes of fame when it appeared in the 2002 Eminem film 8 Mile. The film's producers pried the plywood off the long abandoned ice cream store's windows and gave both the building and the cow a fresh coat of paint. In the film, violent jay and his posse drive in front of the building and shoot the giant cow between the eyes with a pink paintball. The owner of the building at the time didn't want his cow defaced, so the paintball splat was created with computer graphics.
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